Come Party With Me: Engagement Party - Invites

Calling all brides-to-be! Wedding season has begun on the Sugar Network and I am here to help you plan every aspect of the big day. Wow, there I go again getting super excited and jumping ahead. What happens after you've just gotten engaged? You throw an engagement party! Ok, traditionally someone else will throw the engagement party for you, but it's 2007 and if you want to host it (or are hosting one for someone you know who was recently engaged) you've come to the right place because all week I'll be planning an engagement party. I'm helping lucky reader julieulie plan her big day. She got engaged a few months ago, and plans on getting married in May of 2008. Now is a wonderful time to announce her engagement, with plenty of time to spare before sending out her save the date cards. Your engagement party should be a small intimate affair for the families to get to know each other - if they don't already. Select your guests wisely because all those who attend your engagement party will expect to (and should) be invited to your wedding. To see the easy engagement party invitations I've designed for Julie, read more

I love the idea of making a simple collage for the front of a small 4x5.5 inch invite. Julie already knows what colors she wants to use in her wedding: black, white, and light blue so I decided to use light blue for the basis of the invitation. However the engagement invite does not have to coordinate in any way, what-so-ever, to your actual wedding. A collage of the couple through the years they spent together makes a beautiful and romantic front to the invite. However, since I did not have access to Julie's photos I made a collage of fabulous wedding images. I chose bouquets, cakes, and aisle pictures that I found on a wedding website to be the basis of my collage. If brides are planning their own engagement this is a great way to browse for inspiration for your wedding. To assemble this invitation you will need:

cardstock (I chose light blue)

printer paper in the same color as the cardstock

ribbon (I used black)

glue

special equipment: an exacto knife or a razor blade

a collage image like the one below

a computer and printer

To make the invitation:

On your computer create a new word document. Choose a fancy font and write the details of the party. The bride's family generally hosts the engagement party; Julie's parents are hosting hers, so the text on my invite is as follows (in Brush Script MT Bold 14):

Guess Who's Getting Married….
Julie & Scott!

To celebrate their upcoming marriage,
Mr. and Mrs. Barber would like to engage you
with after dinner cocktails and dessert

Saturday March 24, 2007
8:30 pm

The Barber House, 12 Main Street
Washington D.C
RSVP 202.465.8821

No Gifts Please

Print out the text on a test sheet of paper first and once you are happy with it in the color of your choice (mine was light blue).

Fold the cardstock in half and cut in half. Fold in half again to create the shape of a 4 inch by 5.5 inch card.

Cut the collage down to size.

Leaving a small 1/4 inch border, cut the text down to size.

Glue the collage to the front of the card.

Glue the text to the inside of the card.

With the exacto knife poke a slit in the inside of the card directly below the bottom corners of the text page you just glued on. The slit should be in the cardstock. Repeat cutting slits in the upper corners directly above the text page.

Slide the black ribbon through the top slit on the left hand side of the text and the bottom slit on the same side to create a border of ribbon.

Repeat on the right side with a separate piece of ribbon.

Turn the invitation over and on the back where the ribbon has been pulled through tie a small knot to hold the ribbon in place. Cut the ends off close to the knot.

Smooth everything down and your invitation is ready to go! Sleek black envelopes with sparkle-y white handwriting will finish the look.

Planning an engagement party? Please share your invite ideas! Keep reading because there is tons more of Julie's engagement party to come.

I need help. I want to plan an Engagement party for my fiance and myself but in reality it will be our actual wedding. So a I guess you can say a surprise wedding. Does anyone have any ideas onhow I can pull it off. I like the mini program booklet idea that will fit in very well. Our colors are black and lavender. We do want to ask all of our guest to wear all black and note that it is a formal gathering. I will have 4 bridesmaids and 3 out of 4 but mu 2 maid of honors will not. They are family and will tell the others so I will pull a fast one on them. My brother is getting married also and me and his fiance really have the same friends so when they get fitted for their dresses I am going to take the measurements for their gowns and purchase my bridesmaids gowns. I thought of black floor length gowns with lavender sashes connected to a lavender sheer train. Does that soud right please help. This is planned for Thanksgiving weekend.

I recently hosted an engagement party for my roommate. We thought it would be nice to have a party with all of the friends of the couple that would be at the wedding so everyone could meet each other beforehand. It turned out wonderfully. we hosted at our apartment and I rented appetizers plates and stemware so it looked nice and professional. I had a cocktail party and kept it to beer and wine with one type of alcohol (I chose vodka) and mixers to match. I also went to costco and picked up two bouquets of roses (14.99 for two dozen!) and made my own small bunch bouquets that I put throughout the room. with candles and the right music it ended up being very classy and my roommate loved it. For the invitations - I ended up ordering printed invitations online! They came out beautifully and weren't very expensive at all. And as a gift, we gave her one of the invitations in a frame which she loved!